Artigenda
Canal Parade
When: annually, first Saturday of August.
Over de Canal Parade
The Canal Parade is part of Pride Amsterdam, held during July and August. Every first Saturday of August is dedicated to the Canal Parade. This parade of boats passing through Amsterdam’s canals accounts for thousands of visitors. It is one of the highlights of the annual Pride Amsterdam.
Queer Amsterdam & Pride Amsterdam
Pride Amsterdam has been organising the eponymous Pride Amsterdam since 2014. Some years ago, discussions arose about the content of Pride and whether it was inclusive enough. This led to a different division.Queer Amsterdam became responsible for the first part of Pride Amsterdam, Pride Amsterdam (i.e. the organisation) for the other part, including the Canal Parade. Queer Amsterdam, in turn, is responsible for the annual Pride Walk.
"Roze Zaterdag"
“Roze Zaterdag” is best translated as Pink Saturday.
“Roze Zaterdag” was the Dutch response to what had begun abroad following the Stonewall Uprising. That took place between June 28 and July 3, 1969 in New York City. This gave rise to the first Pride Marches. In Amsterdam, people wanted to show support for the developments taking place in the United States, where Anita Bryant had started a campaign in the American city of Miami. The rights given to members of the LGBTQIA+ community went way too far for her. That they were given the same rights as everyone else, i.e. equal treatment, was a thorn in her side. According to Bryant, the law that regulated equal treatment would infringe on the protection of children. A statement that would be repeated in the years that followed. Even to this day.
It was the International Lesbian Alliance that was responsible for organising “Roze Zaterdag.” In doing so, it wanted to show support for the fight against hatred and misunderstanding in the US. The event was named International Gay Liberation and Solidarity Day. This name was changed to “Roze Zaterdag” two years later. The reason had everything to do with the day this all took place. That was on the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. So Holy Saturday (in Dutch: “Stille Zaterdag”). People decided to demonstrate on that very day because of statements made by Bishop Gijsen of Roermond in response to his statements about gays.
Lees meer over die actie via de onderstaande link in het Nederlands.
From the 1980s, the location for “Roze Zaterdag” changed. In 1994, it was Amsterdam’s turn again and this day coincided with the EuroPride. This was not a very big success. However, in 1992 a bid book was submitted to the organisers for the Gay Games and, perhaps in optimism, they included a nice proposal: a boat parade.
Chastity Statement
The only question was: was it possible to organise such a boat parade during the 1998 Gay Games, which Amsterdam did eventually get awarded? The Canal Parade was already ‘born on paper,’ only how was this in practice? No one knew whether this was feasible in practice. There was only one way to find out: by just doing it. They did so in 1996 and this was the first edition of Amsterdam Pride. The municipality only agreed if a pride declaration was issued. In 1994, complaints had been received about obscene behaviour during the road parade during EuroPride. The organisers agreed as they wanted to try anyway.
So the 1998 Pride coincided with the Gay Games and this only added to its popularity. With that popularity also came more discussion, especially in recent years. This eventually led to a split following. Part of the activities were organised by Queer Amsterdam, the other part by the Pride Amsterdam Foundation.
More information
Want to know exactly what will happen during the Canal Parade? Then check out this page.
Source: Unsplash.
